Juan Babauta | |
---|---|
5th Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands | |
In office January 14, 2002 –January 9, 2006 | |
Lieutenant | Diego Benavente |
Preceded by | Pedro Tenorio |
Succeeded by | Benigno Fitial |
3rd Resident Representative of the Northern Mariana Islands | |
In office January 8,1990 –January 14,2002 | |
Preceded by | Froilan Tenorio |
Succeeded by | Pedro Agulto Tenorio |
Personal details | |
Born | Juan Nekai Babauta September 7,1953 Tanapag,Mariana Islands,Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands |
Political party | Independent (2014–present) |
Other political affiliations | Republican (before 2014) |
Spouse(s) | Diana Chong (div. 2002)Charlene Mendiola Tudela (m. 2008) |
Education | Eastern New Mexico University (BA, MA) University of Cincinnati (MS) |
Juan Nekai Babauta (born September 7, 1953) is a Northern Mariana Islander politician who served as the fifth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from January 14, 2002, to January 9, 2006. [2]
Juan Babauta was born in Tanapag, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands on September 7, 1953. [2] He is the oldest of his family's nine children. [2] Babauta completed elementary school on Saipan. [2] His parents then sent him to the mainland United States to continue his education. Babuata moved to Enosburg Falls, Vermont, where he attended Enosburg Falls High School while living on a dairy farm with a host family for three years. [2] Babauta, who was student body president during his senior year and a member of the National Honors Society, graduated from Enosburg in 1972.
Babauta attended a summer session at Johnson State College of Vermont in 1976. [2] He received a Bachelor of Science degree in American history and political science from Eastern New Mexico University in 1976 and a Master of Arts in political science from ENMU that same year. [2] In 1979, Babauta completed a Master of Science degree in health planning and administration from the University of Cincinnati. [2]
Babauta's interest in health planning began when he worked as a health planner for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from April to August 1977, based on Saipan. [2] He became the executive director for the Commonwealth Health Planning and Development Agency in May 1979 after completing his master's degree at the University of Cincinnati. [2] He remained executive director until January 1986. [2]
Babauta was elected to the Northern Mariana Islands Senate in November 1985 representing the 3rd Senatorial District, which encompassed Saipan and the Northern Islands Municipality. He took office in January 1986 and served for one, four-year term in the Fifth and Sixth Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislatures. [2] He served as the Senate floor leader from January 1986 to January 1988 and the chairman of the Fiscal Affairs committee from January 1986 until August 1987. Babauta also chaired the Committee on Health, Education and Welfare from January 1986 and January 1990 and the Committee on Rules and Procedure from January 1988 until he left office in January 1990. Babauta introduced The Education Act of 1988 as a Senator.
In November 1989, Babauta was elected as the third Resident Representative of the Northern Mariana Islands in Washington D.C. He took office in January 1990, succeeding Froilan Tenorio. He served as Resident Representative for three 4-year terms [2] from January 1990 until leaving office in January 2002 to become governor.
In November 2001, Babauta was elected Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands in the four-way gubernatorial election as a Republican. Babauta and his running mate, Diego Benavente, won the election with 5,512 votes, the largest number of votes ever received by a gubernatorial candidate in the Northern Mariana Islands at the time. [3] He defeated Covenant Party candidate Benigno Fitial, Democrat Jesus Borja and former Governor and then Reform Party candidate Froilan Tenorio, respectively. [3] [4] Babauta and Benavente were sworn into office on January 14, 2002.
Babauta was defeated for re-election in the 2005 gubernatorial election. The Republican party refused to hold a primary against former Speaker (2002-2004) Heinz Hofschneider. Babauta and Benavente eventually came in third place in the gubernatorial election, behind Covenant Party candidate Benigno Fitial and Hofschneider, running as an independent, in an election that marked the worst defeat for the Republican Party in its history. [5] Benigno Fitial was elected Governor over independent Heinz Hofschneider by just 99 votes after fifteen days tallying absentee ballots, the closest gubernatorial election in Northern Mariana Islands history at the time. [5] Fitial won with 3809 votes (28.07%) while independent Hofschneider came in a close second with 3,710 votes (27.33%). [5] Babauta placed a disappointing third place with 3,610 votes, or 26.66%. [5] Froilan Tenorio came in fourth with 2442 votes (17.99%). [5] In a concession speech at his home, Babauta told supporters, "Nobody's to blame but me." [5] Babauta left office on January 9, 2006. [2]
Four years later, Babauta unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 2009 gubernatorial election with running mate, Galvin S. Deleon Guerrero, the principal at Mount Carmel School. [6] Babauta was defeated in the Republican primary election on June 27, 2009, by Heinz Hofschneider. [7] Hofschneider received 3,382 votes in the primary election, while Babauta garnered 2,986 votes. [7] Babauta reiterated a unity pledge with Hofschneider after the primary [7] and endorsed Hofschneider in his bid for the governorship.
Babauta also worked as the publisher of Homeland Magazine from 2007 until 2009.
In April 2010, Babauta declared his candidacy for Northern Mariana Islands' Delegate to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican against incumbent Rep. Gregorio Kilili Sablan. [8] Babauta faced Sablan, as well as Democrat Jesus Borja and Covenant candidate Joseph Camacho in the 2010 United States House of Representatives election in the Northern Mariana Islands on November 2, 2010. Sablan won re-election to a second term, while Babauta placed third in the race.
In 2014, Babauta decided to run for governor against incumbent Republican Eloy Inos as an independent. He cited the refusal of the Republican party to hold a primary as his reasoning, along with the introduction of casino gambling. His running mate was former Senator Juan Sablan Torres. [9]
In 2018, Babauta again decided to run for governor as an independent, against Republican incumbent Ralph Torres. This time his running mate was former Education Commissioner Rita Aldan Sablan. [10] He lost against Torres by a 62.2% to 37.8% margin.
The Covenant Party was a political party in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) advocating governmental and financial reform. It was named after the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, Act of Mar. 24, 1976, Pub. L. 94-241, 90 Stat. 263, codified as amended at 48 U.S.C. § 1801 note. In the legislative elections of 2003, the Covenant Party won nine of eighteen seats. The party mostly made up of members from the Republican Party, but many prominent Democrats would also join the party. In the 2005 general elections, the Covenant Party increased its position as one of the strongest parties in the Commonwealth when Benigno R. Fitial, the party's gubernatorial candidate, won the election. The Covenant Party won seven of eighteen seats in the commonwealth's House of Representatives and three of nine seats in its Senate. In the Commonwealth Legislature 2007 elections, the Covenant Party won only four of twenty seats in the House of Representatives.
The Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands is a political party in the Northern Mariana Islands. It began as a purely local territorial party and is now officially affiliated with the United States' national Democratic Party.
General elections were held in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on Saturday, 5 November 2005, electing the governor and Legislature. There was also a referendum on calling a Constitutional Convention, which was approved by voters. The gubernatorial election was the closest in the commonwealth's history, and resulted in the election of Benigno Fitial, narrowly defeating independent Heinz Hofschneider by 84 votes and incumbent Republican Governor Juan N. Babauta by an additional 98 votes. This would be the last year that the gubernatorial race would work in a first-past-the-post voting system as it would be reformed to work under a two-round system for the 2009 general elections. This election made commonwealth history by electing both the territory's first Carolinian governor and its first third party governor.
Benigno Repeki Fitial is a Northern Marianan politician who served was the sixth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. The second longest-serving governor in CNMI history, Fitial was elected on November 6, 2005, assumed office on January 9, 2006, and was re-elected to a (five-year) second term in 2009. He was impeached by the CNMI House of Representatives on February 11, 2013, and was scheduled to face trial before the CNMI Senate to determine if he should be removed from office. He resigned on February 20, 2013, after 7 years, 1 month, and 11 days in office.
The 2009 Northern Mariana Islands general election was held on Saturday, November 7, 2009. This was the last general election to be held on a odd year. This election also saw the extension all office holding officials by one year to move the elections to even-years, corresponding with the elections of other federal and state offices, including the nationwide United States House of Representatives elections and the United States general elections. This election also oversaw the first run-off to be held in the Northern Mariana Islands, which were held on Monday, November 23, 2009. Benigno Fitial became the first governor to win a second term since 1985 and the first time a candidate won a majority since 1993 thanks to the newly implemented run-off voting system.
Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio was a Northern Mariana Islander politician who was the fourth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. Elected in 1993, he served one term from January 10, 1994 to January 12, 1998. During his governorship and most of his political career, Tenorio was a member of the Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands, which was not then affiliated with the American Democratic Party. However, he later switched his affiliation to the Reform Party, a party he founded. Froilan Tenorio would later switch back to the Democrat in 2002 and then to the Covenant Party in 2009.
Arnold Indalecio Palacios is a Northern Marianan politician currently serving as the ninth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, since 2023. He previously served as the 12th lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, from 2019 to 2023. He represented Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands Senate. Formerly a member of the Republican Party, he is the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, having won the 2022 election.
Heinz Sablan Hofschneider is a politician from the Northern Mariana Islands. Hofschneider served as the Speaker of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004 and is a four-time candidate for Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Jesus "Jesse" Camacho Borja is a Northern Mariana Islander politician and lawyer who served as the fourth lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from January 10, 1994 until January 12, 1998 under former Democratic Governor Froilan Tenorio.
Diego Tenorio Benavente is a Northern Mariana Islander politician who served as the sixth lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from January 14, 2002 to January 9, 2006, under former Governor Juan Babauta.
General elections were held in the Northern Mariana Islands on 4 November, 2014. Voters elected the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Delegate to the US Congress, the Senate, the House of Representatives, mayors, municipal councils and the Board of Education. Additionally, a referendum involving changes to the constitution was held.
The 2014 Northern Mariana Islands gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a run-off election was held 14 days later. Incumbent Republican Governor Eloy Songao Inos and running mate Ralph DLG. Torres were elected. Inos, who served as lieutenant governor from 2009 to 2013, first became Governor following the resignation of his predecessor, Benigno Fitial.
Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres is a Northern Marianan politician, who served as the eighth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, from December 29, 2015, to January 9, 2023. He is a Republican from Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The third longest-serving governor in CNMI history, Torres took office upon the death of Governor Eloy Inos on December 29, 2015, before being reelected as governor in his own right in 2018. He previously served as the tenth lieutenant governor, having been elected to that post in 2014.
The 2018 Northern Mariana gubernatorial election took place on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, to elect the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Lieutenant Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands to a four-year term in office. Incumbent Republican governor Ralph Torres, who ascended to governorship in December 2015 following the death of Governor Eloy Inos, sought election to a full term.
Angel Aldan Demapan is a Northern Mariana Islands politician affiliated with the Republican Party.
The 2018 Northern Mariana Islands general election was held on Tuesday, 13 November, 2018, corresponding with the 2018 United States midterm elections. Originally scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 6 November, 2018, the elections were delayed by one week due to the impact and aftermath of Typhoon Yutu. Early voting was held from Tuesday, 6 November, until Monday, 12 November, 2018. An estimated 18,975 voters were eligible to vote in the 2018 election.
The 2022 Northern Mariana gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022 to elect the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and the lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands to a four-year term in office. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote in the general election, the two highest-placing candidates advanced to a runoff election on November 25, 2022.
David Mundo Apatang is a Northern Mariana Islander politician who is serving as the 13th lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands since 2023. He previously served as the mayor of Saipan from January 12, 2015 to January 8, 2023. As a Republican, Apatang formerly served in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives. Apatang was elected lieutenant governor of the Northern Mariana Islands in the 2022 election on an independent ticket headed by Arnold Palacios.
General elections were held in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on 3 November 2001, electing the governor and members to the legislature. The 2001 elections marked the last general election that the dissolved Reform Party, which merged back into the Democratic Party in 2002, would appear on the ballot. Despite the economic hardships experienced under Pedro Pangelinan Tenorio's Administration, the apparent strength the 1999 general elections signaled that the Democratic Party and its splinter Reform Party had, and the newly formed Covenant Party which was formed as a splinter party from the ruling Republican Party, Republican candidate Juan Nekai Babauta won with a landslide in the four-way race. Benigno Repeki Fitial's newly formed Covenant Party landed a distant yet sizable second place. Jesus Borja of the Democratic Party won a distant third and Froilan Tenorio of the Reform Party placed fourth.